Fire, Ice, and KFC
by RedFlowerInk
Summary: Being stuck with each other in a cramped hotel room for a mission? That could only mean a string of endless bickering for Dabi and Geten. Well, at least today they had KFC to distract themselves with. That, and haunting memories of their respective pasts. SPOILERS for BnHA chapter 240 onwards.


As the ice-wielding Geten of the Paranormal Liberation Front sat next to a desk in a small, run-down hotel room, she poured all of her focus into cooling the tiny piece of ice that was floating between her palms.

The ice had already been cooled to an extremely cold temperature, such that currents of frosty mist has started to form around it. She decreased its temperature further. Now it started to glow white, and droplets of water began to form around it. So far, it was working well…

Her focus was broken when the door of the hotel room was swung open with a loud bang, and someone walked in. Irritated, Geten looked up to see the burnt, disfigured visage of her unwilling teammate Dabi.

"I got us fried chicken." he said lazily, lifting up the red-and-white plastic package he was carrying with him. "Help yourself when you feel like-"

His eyes travelled to the hovering speck of ice.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to reduce the temperature of my ice further." Geten replied coolly, without as much as looking at him, instead turning her attention back to the ice. "Right now, I can only make it cold enough to freeze water, but I was thinking that maybe if I made it cold enough, I could instantly freeze water vapour in the air around me, and have a reliable supply of ice to battle with…"

She glanced back at Dabi. He was staring at her with a bored look in his eyes.

"You're judging me, aren't you?" she said coldly.

"Eh, what do I care?" said Dabi, walking over to the pantry to wash his hands. "I could have walked in on worse."

Equally indifferent, Geten went back to chilling the ice for the second time, as the sound of running water echoed from behind her.

"Wait." she suddenly said. "What do you mean by-"

Dabi turned off the tap, walked over to where she was sitting, and dropped the box of food carelessly onto the desk.

"Take all the time you want." he said, pulling out a chicken leg from the box and tearing into it with his teeth. "I'm not leaving anything for you if you're going to wait too long."

Geten frowned at him.

Being forced to work with Dabi for one whole week in a cramped hotel room with only one bed and no way to contact other members of the Front - just on some stupid stakeout mission - had not been a fun experience for her. Her displeasure came as no surprise. Mere minutes before the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army had joined forces a week ago, the two of them had been actively trying to kill each other.

It was therefore only natural she didn't take too well to their sudden alliance. If it was any consolation, it was obvious that Dabi wasn't too happy about having to work with her either - he had been on the losing end during their battle, and from the way he stared sulkily at her whenever they walked past each other in the Liberation Front's headquarters, she could tell that it was a big blow to his pride.

Dabi glanced up from his meal, and stared at the ice that was still floating between her hands.

"That doesn't work, by the way." he said. "It's theoretically possible to make more ice from air if you make it cold enough, but with that amount of ice, you're just going to get a tiny bit of frost. Not really worth your time."

Geten frowned. "Since when did you become a science professor?"

"It's simple knowledge, surface area and energy efficiency and blah blah blah. Didn't you learn this in school?"

Geten glanced up, and looked him in the eye.

"I told you, I never went to school. I spent my whole life honing my meta ability."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Dabi said, smirking. "You're not just annoying, you're a dumbass too."

He spent a second to relish in the look of cold fury on her face, before adding, "Hey, do you seriously not want dinner or what?"

Fighting back the urge to grab some ice from the freezer, turn it into a dagger, and drive it straight through Dabi's cold, callous heart, Geten flung the ice she was currently manipulating back into a glass of water that was sitting on the desk. The surface of the water froze up.

She picked up a chicken leg from the cardboard box, and as she bit into it, she asked casually, "So, did you find any more recruits today?"

"Nope." Dabi replied. "They were all trash, so I burned them dead."

"Of course you did." she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Sometimes I don't know who's more of a psychopath, you or that high school girl you work with."

"At least I'm doing something useful. What have you accomplished ever since we set foot in this lousy town?"

"Scouting, spying, you know - the usual." replied Geten coldly. "I was under the impression that you're supposed to keep your cover as low as possible during a stakeout."

Dabi scoffed. "Yeah, sure. That's why you picked a fight with that guy outside the train station the second we got here."

"He tried to - ugh, you know what? I'm not going to bicker with you like a schoolchild." she said flatly, before grabbing a second piece of chicken. "If you want to stoop to that level, go ahead."

For the next minute, the two villains ate in silence, neither of them wanting to address the other. If the tension in the room was dissipating at all, it was at a very, _very_ slow rate.

As Geten chewed on a French fry, she looked up at her teammate. Something caught her eye.

"Dabi, you're bleeding."

"Huh?"

Dabi glanced down, and indeed, there was a trickle of blood oozing slowly out from the round patch of burnt flesh that scarred the underside of his left eye. The red trail stained his cheek.

"Feh, whatever." he muttered, as he wiped away the blood with his sleeve. "Happens all the time."

And as though the matter was of no more seriousness than a passing fly, he returned to his meal.

But Geten continued to stare curiously at Dabi, or rather, at his multiple ugly scars.

It wasn't as if she cared about his physical health or anything - that definitely wasn't the case, she totally detested him. But his scars interested her - she had been curious about them since she had laid eyes on him for the first time, in a photograph shown to her by Re-Destro months ago, in preparation for their fight in Deika.

She kind of wanted to know how they had come to be. They weren't normal scars, she could see that much. They were clearly inflicted by his own fire...but how could he have used his flames to such an extent that every inch of his skin was marred with scars? Had he gotten into an extremely tough battle with a hero? Or had he inflicted those burns on himself on purpose? It was hard to see why anyone would disfigure themselves like that intentionally...but if that were the case, why did his scars happen to be perfectly symmetrical?

"Dabi, can I ask you something?"

"Knock yourself out."

"What caused you to look like a wild animal that's been forced through a meat grinder?"

Dabi stopped eating, and glared fiercely at Geten.

"Why should I tell you?" he snapped. "If I were stuck in a room with you and a kidnapper and I had to tell you my secrets or get shot, I'd take his gun and kill myself anyway."

"Ah, a terrible past, it seems." Geten said smugly. "What, were you trying to play the fire monster in middle school and burned yourself or something?"

"Go jump off a cliff." Dabi hissed.

He took a rough bite out of his second chicken leg, and his expression was grim. But a second later, his face lit up as he seemed to realise something.

"Actually, wait, no. This is great." he said, as he leaned forward and pointed at Geten with a grin on his face that made his mutilated features look even more disturbing. "Tell me yours and I'll - maybe - tell you mine."

"W-what, you mean my past?" asked Geten, taken aback.

"Yeah, I wanna know what kind of crappy life you must have lived for you to get dragged into something as pathetic as all that liberation bullshit."

Geten's face fell, and she suddenly felt rather moody. She placed down her food and crossed her arms tightly...she didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

Old memories - old, unwanted memories that she would rather tear up, stuff inside a burning dumpster and leave to rot - resurfaced in her mind.

She remembered getting into trouble with her father - more well known to the public under the name of Dark Blizzard - in middle school for getting into a fight with a classmate.

_"How dare you fight so violently with another child! You nearly killed her!"_

_"She started it, daddy!"_

_"But she didn't use her Quirk on you, did she?"_

_"I...I don't get it! Why can't I use my powers? I was born with them - they're a part of me!"_

_"It's against the law, Eiko! You're twelve and you don't even know that?"_

_"But daddy, you use your powers to fight people all the time!"_

_"Don't talk back to me like that!"_

_A slap._

_"I'm licenced to use my Quirk! You're not! Do you know what we call people like you, who use their Quirks so freely to harm people without a care in the world? Villains! You're becoming a villain!"_

She shuddered, and tried to move on to some other memories. But it was no use - her other recollections were just as painful. She recalled running away from home in her fourth year of middle school, and living on the streets until Re-Destro took her in…

She didn't understand. She didn't understand at all. She just wanted to use her abilities freely...was that not a basic right of a human being? Why did she end up being scolded by her own father, and shunned the society that praised her horrible father as a hero?

"Well?"

She looked back up. Dabi was still staring at her eagerly. It made her feel annoyed. Couldn't he see how distressed she was? Not that she expected him to care, anyway...could someone who casually burned people to death every other day even feel sympathy?

Geten squirmed in her seat, and stared out of the window.

"Let's just say...having a hero as your father really sucks." she said.

Dabi's grin fell clean off his face, and it was replaced with a stunned look.

"Oh...you too?" he said.

Surprised by his words, she looked back at him, and their eyes met. Dabi was gawking at her, clearly surprised. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

Geten was bewildered.

"Dabi, wha-"

Dabi blinked, and he seemed to become aware of how stupidly he was staring at her. Shaking his head, he grabbed his cup and started taking large sips from it.

"Hey, Dabi...is your father a hero?"

Dabi shook his head again. Placing his drink aside, he started gazing intently at a speck on the wall.

Now it was his turn to take a gut-wrenching trip down his own memories...he remembered how, when he was at the age of ten, he had been forced to fight Endeavour for extended periods of time, and burned the skin clean off his arms as a result…but he had still held a feeling of twisted admiration for his father as a hero, and when he was thirteen, he tried to imitate Endeavour's fire mask with his own flames, and ended up disfiguring himself permanently as a result…

He stared down at the scars on his arms, and suddenly, he really, _really_ wanted to throw up.

Bowing his head low, he began scratching furiously at his hair.

Damn his Quirk...damn heroes...damn his true name, Toya Todoroki...damn everything...he just wanted it all to burn and be destroyed...no wonder Shigaraki wanted to destroy everything in this world, he could finally see why now…

He felt something warm and soft wrap around his arm.

"Dabi...Dabi!"

He snapped out of his trance. Looking up, he saw Geten staring wide-eyed at him, with a shocked, worried expression on her face.

He still felt the warm object on his arm. Looking down, he saw that it was Geten's own hand.

For someone with an ice Quirk, it was surprising how warm her touch was...

He shook her hand off roughly, and slowly lowered his arm . He did the same with his other arm, and placed both his shaking hands on the table. He suddenly became aware that his heart was pounding rapidly.

"Dabi, what the hell was that?" Geten demanded.

"Nothing that matters to you." he snapped.

Geten didn't respond, and instead continued to stare at Dabi's face. His expression was as stoic as ever, but there was clear fear in his eyes. It was a look that she had never seen in him before. He was usually so cold and emotionless…

She suddenly felt rather pitiful for him.

Dabi glanced up, and saw her staring at him.

"What?" he hissed.

"Nothing." said Geten, taking her mind off of him and leaning back in her chair. "I just never thought I'd see any emotions in you other than...well, none."

Dabi gave her a wry smirk. "Like seeing me in pain, don't you?"

"I'm just surprised that you're...well, that you're like me, in a way."

"Heh, guess we finally have something in common, huh?"

"Want to talk about it?"

"Do you?"

They stared at each other for a moment, before Geten finally got his point. They returned silently to their meal.

"Heroes really suck, huh?" Dabi said after about ten minutes of silence, with a painful smile on his face. At this point, all of their food was nearly gone.

"Yeah." Geten lamented. "I suppose that's why we're both here."

At the same time, they both reached out for the last fry in the box. Dabi was a split second too late - his hand ended up on top of Geten's. They glanced up at each other, and their eyes met in a glare.

"Go ahead." said Dabi, taking his hand away. "I don't really like potatoes, anyway."

"You don't like a lot of foods, do you?" said Geten, as she consumed the fry and picked up the remaining half of her chicken leg. "No wonder you're so lanky. Eat more, you matchstick."

"Give me the rest of that, then." Dabi said, pointing at her chicken.

"No." she replied, stuffing the last of her chicken into her mouth.

Dabi flipped her off, and they both started chuckling like idiots.

The show of amiability was rather uncommon between them. Once they both realised they were being unusually nice to each other, they quickly stopped laughing.

"I'll clear this up." said Geten, without looking at Dabi. "And then I'll go downstairs and buy our breakfast for tomorrow."

"That's oddly nice of you." Dabi stated.

"Don't think too much of it." Geten said, as she packed all the boxes, cups, and leftover bones into the plastic bag and walking to the bin. "You're a wanted criminal and I'm not, so I'm the only one allowed to show my face in a convenience store."

"Hey, I'm good at disguises, okay? How do you think I bought us dinner in the first place?"

"Shut up and let me do it, you reed." Geten shot at him. "Anything in particular that you want?"

"Just get us sandwiches and a drink, I think we can go out and catch our target tomorrow morning. That is, if I catch him passing by tonight...I'll go and check."

Dabi got up from his seat, grabbed a pair of binoculars from the bed, and walked over to the window. He raised the binoculars to his eyes, and started gazing down at the street.

Leaving him to his task, Geten left the room.

When Geten returned to the hotel room a few hours later, night had already fallen. Dabi was still standing at the window.

"Any luck?" she asked.

"Nope, just a few street kids." Dabi replied. "Guess we're stuck with each other for a while longer, then."

Geten hesitated for a moment, before saying, almost to herself, "Honestly, I don't mind that much anymore."

As she went to place down a bunch of plastic bags at the pantry, she heard a reply from Dabi.

"You know what? Same here."

Geten looked up, and gazed in surprise at the back of Dabi's head. He continued staring firmly out of the window, and gave no indication that he had just spoken those words. If anything, he had just fidgeted slightly.

"Hey...what took you so long, anyway?" Dabi asked, stepping away from the window and tossing the binoculars aside. "I thought you were just buying sandwiches."

Geten raised up her hand which wasn't carrying the sandwiches, and showed to Dabi a pair of shopping bags with the logo of a clothes store on them.

"Figures, women." he said, rolling his eyes. "Guess even you can be like them sometimes. I'm still surprised that you _are_ one."

Dabi glanced at the clock, and saw that it was already rather late. They had quite a few things to do for the Front the next day...it was about time they rested.

"Whose turn is it to take the floor?" he asked.

"Yours."

"Dammit. See you in the morning, then."

He stripped his coat, and tossed it onto the floor to use as a makeshift blanket.

"Get the lights, will you?" he said as he laid down on his coat with a dull _thud_.

Geten obliged, and as she took off her own overly large coat, she went to hang it by the door, and reached for the light switch.

But as her hand hovered over the switch, she glanced back over her shoulder to look at Dabi's thin form, lying hunched uncomfortably on the ground.

Normally, she would have gotten a feeling of twisted satisfaction from the sight, but tonight...maybe just tonight, she'd be a little nicer to him...

"Agh, fine, I'll let you share the bed with me." she said.

Dabi turned around to face her. Smirking, he opened one eye.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I said I'll let you share the bed with me." said Geten, although she was certain that he had heard her the first time.

She pushed down the light switch with a click, and as the room went dark, she walked over the bed.

"We need to get up early tomorrow, don't we?" she said as she threw herself onto the left side of the bed. "I don't want to have to kick you awake like yesterday, so you'd best get a good night's sleep."

"Heh...like I'd turn down that offer." said Dabi, as he climbed into bed beside her.

It was rather cramped, so for the next minute, the two of them fidgeted around, trying to get comfortable - eventually, they settled for lying with their backs to each other. Because there was so little space, their backs were touching, and the heels of their feet knocked together, but they were otherwise okay with their current arrangement.

For the next minute, neither of them spoke, and there was complete silence. Dabi was about to drift off to sleep when he heard Geten's soft voice calling out from behind him.

"Hey...Dabi?"

"Huh?"

He sat up at an angle, and saw that Geten was still lying sideways, unmoving, and staring blankly at a corner of the room with her pale white eyes partially open. Her expression was solemn. She seemed to be thinking about something.

"What do you want?" Dabi pressed her after a moment of silence.

"I was just thinking…" she said in a hollow voice. "If you could go back, and start over again...do you think that maybe...things would be different?"

It took a second for Dabi to understand what she was talking about. Once he realised what she meant, he silently struggled to come up with an answer to her mysterious question.

He glanced down at his burn scars, and the answer came to him.

"Nah, I don't think they would. I was bound to be this way from the start." he finally said. "It's been like that ever since I was born to my father...even if I wanted to change, the circumstances wouldn't allow it."

Geten shifted uncomfortably.

"I see…thanks."

She said no more.

Assuming that their strange conversation was over, Dabi laid back down. As he did this, glanced back at Geten, just to see if she was actually going to sleep or if she would just disturb him again.

Her eyes appeared closed, so he supposed she was really going to sleep this time.

But a second later, Geten spoke again.

"It's a cold night, isn't it?"

Surprised and a little annoyed by the statement, Dabi frowned to himself. An ice Quirk user could feel cold?

But now that she said it, the weather _was_ rather chilly.

He clutched at the exposed skin of his arms…she wasn't lying, it really was cold. Unfortunately, they didn't have a blanket with them...he really wished he hadn't left his coat on the floor. Granted, he could just get out of bed and grab it, but he really didn't want to move.

He and Geten glanced at each other at the same time. Their gazes locked, two pairs of pale eyes shining in the dark. It became clear that were thinking the same thing…

Hastily, they turned themselves around to face each other.

They both pulled each other towards themselves, and they each wrapped their arms around the other's back and neck. They tried not to think too much about the awkwardness of the situation, and told themselves that they were doing this out of necessity.

They pressed themselves closer to each other, so that they could share body heat a little better. They shifted around for a while, and Dabi ended up placing his chin on top of Geten's head, while Geten rested her face against Dabi's chest.

"This doesn't mean anything, you matchstick." Geten whispered coldly as she pressed her head closer against Dabi's burnt skin. "I still hate you."

"Glad to see the feeling's mutual." Dabi replied as he moved one hand further up her back, because it was currently a little too close to her waist. "I guess we'll never change."

He tried to go to sleep again, for real this time.

As he lay still, he found that he was actually rather enjoying the feeling of Geten's warm hands on his body. She had a really nice touch…she was an annoying woman for sure, but he'd be damned if her embrace wasn't comfortable.

Taking in her warmth, and praying that she wouldn't freak out when she woke up in his arms the following morning, Dabi soon fell asleep.

**Well, uh...that's a wrap from me, I guess.**

**I was working on another story, actually, it's a longfic that focuses on another BnHA rarepair, which I feel is severely underappreciated and I wanted to write about.**

**My plan was for that to be my first published story, but unfortunately, I fell sick while writing it and I couldn't focus on anything, so...yeah. I guess my first published fanfiction is going to be a half-serious, half-KFC-shitpost DabiGeten one-shot. Well, I liked writing it, anyway. And I hope you enjoyed it, too.**

**Please leave a comment, and tell me what you think!**


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